Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 OBJECTIVE ....................................................................................................................... 1 THEORY ............................................................................................................................ 2 APPARTUS ........................................................................................................................ 2 SAMPLE AND EQUIPMENT PREPARATION .............................................................. 3 PROCEDURE ..................................................................................................................... 4 CALCULATION ................................................................................................................ 5 DISSCUSION ..................................................................................................................... 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 6

INTRODUCTION
In the design of engineering projects, one of the most important soil properties of interest to the soils engineer is permeability. To some degree, permeability will play a role in the design of almost any structure. For example, the durability of concrete is related to its permeability. In designs that make use of earthen materials (soils and rock) the permeability of these material swill usually be of great importance. Soils are permeable (water may flow through them) because they consist not only of solid particles, but a network of interconnected pores. The degree to which soils are permeable depends upon a number of factors, such as soil type, grain size distribution and soil history. This degree of permeability is characterized by the coefficient of permeability. A number of different methods for determining the coefficient of permeability for soils exist, for soils exist, including in-situ methods and laboratory methods. In the laboratory, two common tests are generally used to determine this soil property. These two tests are the falling head permeability test and the constant head permeability test. Which test is used depends upon the type of soil to be tested. For soils of high permeability (sands and gravels) a constant head test is used. For soils of intermediate to low permeability, a falling head test is used. As we were testing sand we used a constant head permeability test. By carrying out the constant head permeability test we can determine the coefficients of permeability of given sand over range of unit weights. During the test we can observe the phenomenon of piping.

OBJECTIVE
This laboratory test is used to determine the hydraulic conductivity of soil. This method is limited to soils containing 10% or less material passing the No. 200 sieve (0.075 mm). The procedure measures values of the coefficient of permeability that may occur in natural granular soil deposits as placed in embankments, base courses, or earth dams.

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To determine permeability of sands and gravels containing little or no silt.

THEORY
The total volume of water collected may expressed as:

Where; Q = volume of water collected A = area of cross section of the soil specimen T = duration of water collection And because;

Where;

L = length of the specimen

h = the difference in heads registered on the manometers

( Where

= water viscosity at temperature T

= water

viscosity at 20

(68 )

APPARTUS
Permeameter. Constant-head filter tank. Large funnels fitted with cylindrical spouts 25mm (1in.) in diameter and 150mm (6in.) in length. Large funnels fitted with cylindrical spouts 13mm (1/2in.) in diameter and 150mm (6in.) in length.

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Specimen compaction equipment. Vacuum pump or water-faucet aspirator. Manometer tubes. Balances, 2kg capacity sensitive to 1g. Thermometer, clock, mixing pan, jar, and 250mL graduate cylinder.

SAMPLE AND EQUIPMENT PREPARATION

A representative air-dried soil sample containing 10% fines or less is to be selected. The sample should be sieved through the 3/8" and the No. 200 sieves. Any material retained on the 3/4" sieve should be discarded but must. be reported along with the test results. The remaining material should be twice the size required for sample permeameter chamber. The size of the permeameter should conform to values listed in Table E21.1. Make initial measurements of the inside diameter of the permeameter D and the length L. Use small portion of soil sample water content determination, then record the mass of the remaining sample M1. The soil should be placed in uniform layers approximately equal in thickness. Compact these layers to the desired relative density.

The mass of soil is calculated as; TABLE E21.1 Permeameter Cylinder Diameter Minimum Cylinder Diameter Maximum particles size <35% Retained on sieve lies between sieves 2mm (no.10) 9.5mm(3/8) No. 10 and 3/8 76mm(3) 3/8 and 3/8 152mm(6) >35% Retained on sieve 2mm(no.10) 9.5mm(3/8) 114mm(4.5) 229mm(9)

M-1 M2. Place the porous disk on top of the soil sample and attach it securely to the top of the permeameter cylinder, making an airtight seal. This will guarantee that. The density does not change appreciably.

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With the specimen firmly in place, use the vacuum pump to remove air bubbles adhering to the soil. Follow the air evacuation by a slow saturation of the specimen by allowing water to flow from the bottom upward under full vacuum. Best results are achieved if de-aired water or water at low temperature is used. Native water, similar to that found on the job site, is recommended so that field conditions are properly simulated. Once the specimen is fully saturated and the permeameter is full of water, shut off the bottom valve. Disconnect the vacuum, and then fill the inlet tube with water by slightly opening the filter tank valve. Connect the inlet tube to the top of the permeameter and open the manometer outlet cocks to free them of air. Connect the water manometer tubes to the manometer outlets and fill with water. Close the inlet valve and open the outlet valve so that water is allowed to reach a stable level under zero head difference.

PROCEDURE
1. Start the clock, then open tire inlet valve from the filter tank slightly; making sure that no specimen volume change will occur. Take no measurements until a stable head differential is established in the manometers. 2. Once this condition is achieved, measure and record the time t, head difference h, quantity of flow Q, and water temperature T. Are measured and recorded. Repeat the test at heads increasing by 0.5 cm. This should establish the region of laminar flow. 3. Once the tests are completed, drain the specimen and examine it to be sure that it is essentially homogeneous. Make sure that no alternating dark or light horizontal streaks are present. 4. These may indicate segregation of soil particles, in which case the test should be repeated. If the test specimen exhibits no major changes in its characteristics, then the coefficient of permeability k is calculated as : Where Q is the quantity of water discharged, L is the height of the soil specimen, A is the cross-sectional area of the sample, t is the total time of discharge, and h is the difference in heads registered on the manometers. 5. The coefficient of permeability should be reported as that corresponding to 20C (68F). The calculated k-value should be corrected in order to account

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for any temperature difference between the test temperature and the required 20C as: ( ) is water viscosity at is the coefficient of are given in Table

6. Where k20 is the corrected permeability coefficient, temperature T, is water viscosity at 20C, and permeability determined from the test. Values for E21.2.

CALCULATION

L = 67mm = 25788 T/ 20 = 0.777 (From table) Q = 950ml x 10mm = 9500mm3

DISSCUSION
The value of the k (permeability) that we get is This value we get by using the formula. Before that, we find the value Ai first and after that we get the value of Q. So, the permeability of this sample is moderate. This is because the porosity of sand and gravel is high or moderate where by water can flows through the soil with less resistance. It can drain water easily but hardly can retain any water.

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The greater pore size of soil is more permeability then the soil with smaller pore size. From value of k, we can classify the type of soil that we use is silty sands or silty clays and this types of soil is not suitable for drainage system.

CONCLUSION
From the experiment, we can know that the objective of the experiment is to determine the permeability of sands and gravels containing little or no silt. From the experiment that have done, we can know that the objective for this experiment was achieved. This is because the value of permeability of sands is k = . From the table of value permeability (from discussion), our results test we located in categorized as fine sands. It means that the soil are using through this experiment is fine sands. REFERENCES

lab sheet basic soil mechanics(Roy withlow) Principles of Geotechnical Engineering (Braja M. Das) http://www.scribd.com/doc/148495927/Permeability

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